Mortgage Rates Up

Don't know about you, but I didn't expect this. After all, the current consumer confidence rates were good last week and the Fed didn't change the overnight lending rate this week.

With all the good news, it seems that the mortgage industry decided to go back to the trough for some more profits. Today's CNN story says the current Freddie Mac survey shows that 30 year mortgages are up almost a full 10th of a percent in one week. They haven't been this high since October of last year.

The incentive to raise rates comes on the heels of good news about the housing market. It appears to be stabilizing much more quickly than expected, according to many analysts.

Personally, I'm not sure that we've seen the end of the "housing bubble" debate. There are still a number of blogs out there that are following the demise of "bull" housing markets. In fact, one of my favourites is the The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter. According to this site, the US has actually lost 18 lenders in the subprime market since December 2006. Countrywide is one of the lenders that bellied up to the interest trough right away. They are also big in the subprime market.

Stay tuned. I think there is more going on in this market than meets the eyes of most analysts.